Food hydration and cooking assembly



Feb. 7, 1961 w. w. CUSHMAN FOOD HYDRATION AND COOKING ASSEMBLY FiledFeb. 25, 1958 INVENTOR Walton W C'uslunalz ATTORNEY United States PatentFOOD HYDRATION AND COOKING ASSEMBLY Walton W. Cushrnan, Webb City, Mo.(6428 Lumar Drive SE., Washington 22, D.C.)

Filed Feb. 25, 1958, Ser. No. 717,537

2 Claims. (Cl. 126-195) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec.266) The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufacturedand used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without thepayment to me of any royalty thereon.

My present invention relates to a food hydration and cooking assemblyand method. It has to do particularly, although not exclusively, withsuch an assembly which is of a portable nature capable of being movedabout from place to place for use with the engines of various types andkinds of motorized vehicles, employing heat from the exhaust gases ofsuch engines to effect the hydration and cooking of the food.

The use of dehydrated foods has become widespread within recent years byboth military and civilian groups.

In connection with military bivouacs, for example, field kitchens, assuch, are seldom ever used and since dehydrated foods are used in placeof freshly cooked foods, it is desirable to provide some kind ofportable means for hydrating and cooking, or Warming, the dehydratedfood to be served to the personnel at the site of the bivouac. Accompanythe personnel are usually a number of motorized Vehicles of variouskinds and types.

It is, therefore, one of the objects of the present invention toprovide'new and improved means and a method for hydrating and cooking,or warming, dehydrated foods of various kinds.

Another object of the invention is to provide means as specified in thepreceding paragraph which is capable of utilizing heat from the exhaustgases from the engine of any one or more of the motorized vehiclesincluded in the bivouac, or maneuver, to hydrate and cook, or warm, thedehydrated food for the personnel of the bivouae.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved food hydrator and cooker, or warmer assembly, which can beeasily and quickly attached to and disconnected from the exhaustmanifold of an engine without requiring any change or alteration ofeither the assembly or exhaust manifold, and without requiring the useof any special tools or equipment for the purpose.

Another object is to provide an assembly as mentioned above whichincludes a baffled steam and liquid-containing chamber into and throughwhich exhaust gases pass to provide heat for cooking or warming foodlocated within a chamber or vessel immediately adjacent the baffledsteam and liquid-containing chamber.

Another object of the invention is to provide an im proved assembly asaforesaid having flexible, liquidcooled or tempered, conduit means forattaching or connecting the assembly to an engine exhaust manifold; itbeing a further object of this invention to provide an assembly of theforegoing character which is of relatively simple construction, easilyassembled and disassembled, and one which can be mass-produced atrelatively low cost.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present inventionwill appear from the following descripice tion and appended claims, whenconsidered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein likereference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In said drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view, partly broken away, of one adaptation ofthe hydration and cooking assembly of the present invention, being showndetachably connected with the tail pipe of an engine exhaust manifold.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of an internal combustion engine showing theassembly connected to the exhaust pipe intermediate the ends of saidpipe.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on a reduced scale taken substantiallyalong the line 3-3 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on an enlarged scale taken substantiallyalong the line 44 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the assembly and connectingmeans, illustrating the details of the food and exhaust gas-receivingchambers and of the liquidcooled flexible conduit means, showing the inoperation location of the liquid.

With particular reference to Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the drawing, thereis shown a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this form,the assembly is adapted to be detachably connected to the tail pipe ofthe exhaust line of a vehicle engine such, for example, as that shown atin Fig. 2.

In Figs. 1 and 5 the assembly is shown as including a vessel orrecptacle 14 which may or may not be divided into sections orcompartments (not shown). The Vessel 14- is removably mounted upon ahollow base member 15 having a surrounding flange 16 within which thebottom portion of vessel 14 rests or seats, as clearly shown in Fig. 5.A removable lid or cover 17, having a handle 18 riveted at 19 to thelid, rests and fits within an upper flange 16a on the vessel 14. Thebottom wall 20 of the base unit 15 has an upright tubular stack or pipe21 fixed thereto and which extends upwardly above said bottom wall andinto the hollow base 15. It also extends below the bottom wall as shownat 22 to depend therefrom, see Fig. 5. The tubular inlet stack, ormember 21, 22, has a series of spaced holes or openings 21a therein, seeFigs. 4 and 5 and is rigidly fixed to thebase in any suitable manner, asby a weld line, or solder 23. The bottom wall 20 carries a similaroutlet stack or tube 24 which is imperforate and which also extendsabove and below said bottom wall. It may be secured to the bottom 20 bya weld line or solder 25. These exposed, or depending members 22 and 24provide means for the attachment and support of flexible tubing whichmay be formed from plastic, such as silicone tubing, as explained below.

When the vessel 14 is positioned or nested upon the base member 15, aspace or chamber 8 is provided between bottom wall 14a of vessel 14 andthe bottom wall 20 of the base member 15. This space 8 serves as theliquid and steam generating and circulating chamber for the assembly, aswill be explained later.

The space or chamber 8 between the members 14 and 15 is provided withbaflle means for breaking up and directing, or controlling, the flow ortravel of exhaust gases which are conducted to the said space from theexhaust side or manifold 11 of an internal combustion engine 9 withwhich the assembly of the invention is connected.

In the present embodiment, the baffie means is shown as being attached,carried by, and thus removable with, the food-receiving vessel 14, suchbeing attached to the bottom wall 14a, thereof, see Fig. 5. As shown, ashort sleeve or tube 26 is welded, or otherwise attached to theunderface of bottom wall. 14a and depends therefrom.

The lower end of tube 26 is welded to a foraminous disklike plate ormember 27 having an oil-center opening therein to receive the stack 21,22. Tube 26 has a series .of openings orperforations 26a formed thereinnear its lower end and the plate 27 has a plurality of perforations oropenings 27a therein and a secondofi-center hole or opening which isadapted to telescope over the second stack 24. When members 14 and 15are assembled, as shown in Fig. 5, the short' tube 26 is spaced from theupstanding stack 21 to permit the circulation of liquid, steam and gasesin the space above and surrounding the stack 21. The perforate disk 27is suspended in a substantially horizontal plane in a position above andslightly spaced from the bottom wall 20 of unit 15, as shown.

Exhaust gases from an engine, such as 9, pass through exhaust tail pipe12a and enter a flexible hose, preferably a'plastichose, such assilicone tubing. As seen in Fig. 5, this tubing is double, i.e., anoutside tube 28 and a spaced inside tube 29, are held in spacedrelationship by an interposed spirally arranged wire or spring 30. Theupper end portion of the inside tube 29 is telescoped within the stack21, 22 and held in place by an expansion lock ring,'or the like 31. Theupper end portion of the outside, or larger diameter tube is telescopedover the stack lower portion 22 and held thereto by a compression orclamping ring, or the like 32.

The lower end portion of the inside tube 29 is telescoped within thelarger end of a tapered single tube section or member 35 and held inposition by an expanding ring or member 34. The outside and longer tubemember 28 has its lower end portion telescoped over the larger end oftube section 35 and is held in position by a compression ring, clamp, orband 33. Thus, the section 35 is clamped to the two tubes by the ringsor bands 33 and 34.

The purpose of using the tapered tube section 35 is to permit theassembly to be quickly and easily brought into communication with theexhaust of an engine. An exhaust pipe, such as is shown at 12 in Fig. 2,usually has what is referred to as a tail pipe 12a, also seen in Fig. 1,and in connecting the assembly, the tapered tube section 35 is simplytelescoped within the tail pipe 12a, as shown. By virtue of such, aquick and satisfactory connection can be effected and the assembly can,of course, be readily disconnected.

Fig. 2 of the drawing illustrates a modified manner of connecting thecooking assembly to an exhaust line. In this embodiment, the taperedtube section 35a is telescoped into a T-coupling 13 in exhaust pipe line12. When disconnected, a threaded closure plug (not shown) wouldsupplant the tube section 35a to seal the exhaust line.

The cooking assembly of the present invention is of a portable type andthe size of the vessel 14 and its supporting base member, or boiler 15,may be varied in accordance with requirements. .In use, water or otherliquid is placed in the hollow base 15 in a quantity sufficient to reacha level as indicated at W in Fig. 5. The tapered end tube section 35 isfrictionally connected to the exhaust line 12, 13, or 12a, with thesingle tubing 36 having its discharge end (not shown) located at adistance from the cooking assembly so as to carry off the spent exhaustgases as they issue from the chamber 8 of the base unit 15. Some of theliquid in base 15 flows through openings 21a into the space between thedual tubes 28 and 29. This liquid helps to maintain the temperatures towhich the tubing is subjected by the exhaust gases (indicated by arrows,Fig. at a low enough degree to prevent damage to said tubing.

By reason of the arrangement of the bafile plate or disk 27, thepositioning of the stacks 21 and 24 and the short tube 26, together withthe presence of the liquid in chamber 8, as clearly shown in thedrawing, the normally excessive heat of the exhaust gases entering fromdual tubing 28, 29, will be reduced or dissipated, due to its bubblingaction through the water, or other liquid in boiler and its requiredcircuitous course, or path through the liquid on its way to bedischarged through the outlet stack 24 and discharge tubing 36. Thelevel of water in the chamber 8 will remain substantially constant dueto the presence of condensation of the liquid in the exhaust gases.Moreover, water, or other liquid will always be present in the spacebetween the tubes 28 and 29.

When the dehydrated food is placed into the vessel 14, a suitablequantity of water, or other desirable liquid, is emptied into the vesselalong with the food.

I claim:

1. In a portable food hydration and cooking assembly whose heat isderived from the exhaust gases of an engine having a conventionalexhaust manifold, the combination of a hollow base, a food-receivingreceptacle mounted on said hollow base and having a bottom wall withinthe base, inlet conduit means attached to the base and adapted to beconnected to the engine exhaust manifold for conducting exhaust gasesinto the hollow base, separate outlet means also attached to the basefor conducting the exhaust gases away from said base, and foraminousbafile means including a disk-like perforate plate attached to andsupported by the receptacle bottom wall and being disposed within thebase in substantial parallelism to and spaced above the bottom wall ofsaid base for directing and distributing the exhaust gases throughoutsaid hollow base, said base containing a body of liquid which ismaintained at a substantially constant level by the condensation ofliquid in the exhaust gases and through which the incoming gases mustpass before escaping therefrom whereby to provide a rapid heat buildupand maintain the temperature of said liquid at sub the base, inletconduit means attached'to the base. and

adapted to be connected to the engine exhaust manifold for conductingexhaust gases into the hollow base, sepa rate outlet means also attachedto the base for conducting the exhaust gases away from said base, andforaminous baflle means including a perforate plate suspended from thebottom wall of the food-receiving receptacle disposed within the baseand being located adjacent the bottom wall thereof, said plate havingoif-center openings therein, exhaust gas inlet and outlet stacks carriedby the bottom wall of the hollow base and being in registry with saidoff-center openings, said bafile means serving to direct and distributethe exhaust gases throughout said hollow base, said base containing abody of liquid which is maintained at a substantially constant level bythe condensation of liquid in the exhaust gases and through which theincoming gases must pass before escaping therefrom whereby to provide arapid heat build-up and maintain the temperature of said liquid atsubstantially the boiling point of water for hydration purposes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS252,787 McCall Jan. 24, 1882 377,607 Foster Feb. 7, 1888 572,254 GoldDec. 1, 1896 592,017 McCauley et al. Oct. 19, 1897 707,908 Dunham et a1Aug. 26, 1902 861,550 Strang July 30, 1907 (Other references onfollowing page) I UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Patchell et a1. Ian. 23,Richheimer Dec. 24, Parsons Apr. 21, Henschel Ian. 13, Maihack May 18,Brescka Apr. 2, Alessandro Oct. 24, Hurd Jan. 19, Dean Oct. 23.

